


just by my left brain (just by the side of the tin man)

by spacetrek



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, i wrote this up at 5am to justify not working on one of my three academic papers, justin give your character a name this is killing me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:13:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23198386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacetrek/pseuds/spacetrek
Summary: I need to know if you trust me.
Relationships: Master Firbolg & Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt
Comments: 4
Kudos: 63





	just by my left brain (just by the side of the tin man)

_I need to know if you trust me._

_You are my CEO._

It is the truth.He means it.

It doesn’t seem to have any effect on Fitzroy.He stands there, lip caught between his teeth in that way he has, the way that means he isn’t sure what to do.

This is not good.One of them needs to know what to do.

Fitzroy takes a deep breath and throws his shoulders back.HIs eyes gleam like a forest creature’s in the dark.He looks frightened, but determined, as he has since he stepped into the woods.

Funny, how they are all so scared of the woods.

“Okay,”he says, and reaches out.

And then it is all gone.

The fear, the uncertainty, the buried guilt _(he should not see that)_ and even the sour-sick feeling in his stomach are subsumed by a well-being and trust so heavy it is almost smothering.

Somewhere deep down, he knows this is artificial.He knows this is the spell.

And somewhere further down, he believes in Fitzroy enough that it doesn’t matter.

_I need to know if you trust me._

_There is no stronger bond.At least, there is not for me now._

He meant it.He always means what he says, unless it is a joke.If it is a joke he always announces it, as is proper, so there can be no entrapment.

He does mean it.

Any other bonds that had ever meant anything to him are gone now.All he has is here.

He can feel Fitzroy in his head.

Fitzroy’s mind-touch is—clumsy.There is no kind word for it.It overflows with Fitzroy’s particular flavor of anxiety, hot and sharp and metallic.He keeps stumbling and snagging on things which cannot be hidden.

But Fitzroy does not stop, and he does not try to look.

That further-down thing swells, vindicated.His trust in his friend was not misplaced.

Fitzroy has stopped now, in front of nothing.

At least, it seems like nothing.

It is probably not nothing.

He is reminded of his first clumsy attempts to tread water, always moving around or falling beneath the surface.This is what Fitzroy feels like now.

There is some prodding, and it hurts.It is like poking a bruise he didn’t even know he had.

And then something snaps in his head, a little something, like a thin and dry twig, but the rush of his own shaky uncertainty and stomach-sour fear is—unpleasant.

His head feels no different, and even the ache is fading fast. It was just Fitzroy taking his leave.

He does not remember closing his eyes, and the not-remembering leaves a bad taste in his mouth.

He can still feel Fitzroy’s hand on his shoulder, nails digging a little into the rough cloth.

He opens his eyes.

Fitzroy is looking up at him, eyes gleaming like a forest creature’s in the dark, lip firmly back between his teeth.

He looks a little emboldened, and a lot afraid.

He always looks afraid these days.

But Fitzroy did not turn him away when he came for help.He only offered what help he could give, and he has given it. This is not nothing.

The too-sweet calm of the charm is gone, but the deep-down thing is still there, and it is stronger now than it has ever been.

_I need to know if you trust me._

_Yes._

Perhaps Fitzroy will trust him, too.

**Author's Note:**

> taking huge liberties with Charm Person because I only know the bare-bones in-game mechanics and I wanted some drama.
> 
> based entirely off that one scene from taz grad 10 because I'm still thinking about it and also because I'm trying to do college from home and this podcast and buzzfeed unsolved are all that's keeping me sane right now
> 
> title taken from "Amsterdam" by Imagine Dragons


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